The Crispus Attucks Blog: As the Sotomayor Confirmation Kabuki Comes To An End...

Thursday, July 16, 2009

As the Sotomayor Confirmation Kabuki Comes To An End...

...we were treated to two of the firefighters in the Ricci case giving their opinions about whether the judge is qualified to be the Supreme Court.

I'm certain the plaintiffs against whom she ruled would be nothing but pleased if the judge were to be elevated to the position of Justice. Otherwise, why are they there? The obvious use of these individuals as witnesses at the hearing is to evoke some measure of emotion from the public (perhaps empathy) about Judge Sotomayor's participation in upholding the ruling of the trial court instead of engaging in some form of judicial activism. And how much hypocrisy have you seen today?

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Crispus Attucks?

According to PBS.org:

"In 1770, Crispus Attucks, a black man, became the first casualty of the American Revolution when he was shot and killed in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Although Attucks was credited as the leader and instigator of the event, debate raged for over as century as to whether he was a hero and a patriot, or a rabble-rousing villain".

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p24.html

From its earliest days black people have fought and died for this country, in every war we've fought, as soldiers and patriots. The average person, if they were to judge from the media and their lifetime of misteaching, would believe all we've ever been were slaves, civil rights workers, athletes, entertainers, welfare recipients and criminals.

In the minds of many people, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, or both, are the leaders of Black America. The utter ridiculousness of such thinking is apparent if its applied it in the inverse, say by considering Newt Ginrich or Sarah Palin to be the leaders of White America.

Black Americans are a complex mosiac within the expansive tapestry of this country and its history. Our sweat, blood, and toil helped create and maintain America, and we've paid a price higher than those paid by many others. This blog is a reflection of that point of view.

Why are you talking anyway?

Although we've seen many changes in our society, for me, there's still a lot of misunderstanding about Black Americans and our role in shaping this society...and not just by people who are not black.

Al Sharpton is not Black America. Jesse Jackson is not Black America. Neither was Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas, or Cripus Attucks, but they all were Black Americans. And despite the rhetoric used against them during their lives and times, they all have proved their love for their country by challenging it to be true to its promise of justice and equality.

I feel the same way as they did. They used their voices. I want to use mine.

The Crispus Attucks Blog